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  • Accessible Presentations Panel
    2009 UIUC Web Accessibility Conference, accessibility, presentations
    Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 13:21
    Attending presentation entitled "Accessible Presentations Panel" by Hadi Rangin and Christy Blew from College of Applied Health Sciences and Marc Thompson from Academic Outreach at the 2009 UIUC Web Accessibility Conference.  About 20 people in attendance.
    • Bottom-line: stay with HTML when possible.
    • When you need something more sophisticated (like chat), look around, as there are accessible options available out there.
    • Suggestion for how to handle discussion forums: switch out of LMS to a public discussion forum that screen reader users can read and post to via email.
    • See How-To Guide for Creating Accessible Online Learning Content
    • 7 PowerPoint Best Practices for Accessibility
      • Use default layout templates
        • Enforces consistency
        • Avoid using text boxes
      • Use unique slide titles for each slide to identify information on the slide
      • Use bulleted or numbered lists but avoid nested lists
      • Use "Insert" feature to add images and add descriptive text as you would an alt attribute in HTML.
      • Use descriptive link text that describes its destination
      • Create the charts and graphs from within PowerPoint if possible
        • Provide an accompanying text data table of the information in the chart
        • Add descriptive text
        • Whenever possible, avoid importing charts from other programs
        • Groups images in complex organizational charts
        • Augment color coding with texture, line styles, shades for color blind users
      • Use HTML is possible
    • Microsoft Word Best Practices for Accessibility
      • Use lists properly (numbered if the list must be in that order)
      • Use headings properly to make navigation more intuitive
    • Additional free training available from Christy
    • 7 HTML Best Practices for Accessibility
      • Provide meaningful and unique page titles
      • Use heading elements to structure your page logically and hierarchically
      • Use links that are self-describing and meaningful
      • Use liquid design for layout and avoid using tables for layout and positioning
      • Do not convey information with color alone
      • Provide appropriate alt-text for all images
      • Provide text transcripts or captioning for audio
    • PDF accessibility problems are difficult to retrofit; best to go back to source file and make it accessible first
    • Steps to create accessible PDF for Word documents
      1. Apply styles in MS Word
      2. Save Word document as PDF
      3. In Adobe Acrobat, Advanced > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order
      4. Run Advanced > Accessibility > Full Check
      5. Save PDF in Acrobat
     

  • Web Accessibility and Usability Go Hand-In-Hand
    2009 UIUC Web Accessibility Conference, accessibility, usability, web development
    Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 11:13
    Attended presentation entitled "Web Accessibility and Usability Go Hand-In-Hand" by Cordelia Geiken, Tim Offenstein, and Jonathan Hsieh of CITES Usability Design group at the 2009 UIUC Web Accessibility Conference.  About 70 people in attendance.
    • What is accessible isn't always usable (gave example of Beckman Cafe's Braille sign unreachable because it's behind a table and 6 feet above the ground)
    • Careful about sending mixed messages (gave door example of "Push bar to open" sign about "Alarm will sound if door is opened")
    • The pot pie example
      • Walked 10-year-old daughter over the phone on how to cook pot pies.
      • Came home to find pot pies face-down on cookie sheet since that was her only end-user experience (pies were always served that way)
    • Types of Usability Testing
      • Card sorting
        • Open card sort: asking users to organize cards into their own groups
        • Closed card sort: categories are provided
      • Paper prototype
      • Computer-based testing
        • Task-based evaluation: asking the user to do a set of things to do on the site
        • Taskless evaluation: providing a scenario but no specific direction
    • A basic review of accessibility tasks followed.

  • IITAA Web Accessibility Requirements and Certification Program
    2009 UIUC Web Accessibility Conference, accessibility, elearning, iitaa, web development
    Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 10:07
    Attending "IITAA Web Accessibility Requirements and Certification Program" presented by Mike Scott of the Illinois Department of Human Services at the 2009 UIUC Web Accessibility Conference. About 60 people in attendance.
    • Accessibility laws:
      • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act--targets education
      • Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act--adds details and technical standards
      • Americans with Disabilities Act--lays out the requirement, but not the specifics
      • State Lawsuit Immunity Act amendments--gives constituents the right to sue for accessibility issues
    • The Lawsuits
      • America Online
      • IBM (Olympics.com for Sydney Olympics)
      • Priceline & Ramada.com
      • State of Arkansas (sued by employees of inaccessible IT project -- $19 million became $52 million project), State of Pennsylvania
      • Target.com
    • Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act
      • Brought-up by the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
      • Public Act 095-0307
      • Signed August 20, 2007
      • Effective August 20, 2008
      • Covers
        • Agencies, Departments, Divisions, etc.
        • Constitutional Offices
        • Public Universities
        • Does not specifically cover community colleges but Illinois Community College Board and IBHE are applying pressure
      • Based largely upon Section 508, though significant updates made to area of Web standards.
    • Thought-process for considering accessibility of an element
      • What experience is that element attempting to convey (purely sensory, informative, guiding navigation, etc.)?
      • What alternative can we provide to persons with disabilities?
    • Considerations
      • The "undue burden" excuse often does not justify the lack of accessibility because the burden is considered in relation to overall budget of the entire entity (in the case of a public university, of the entire state).
      • IITAA only applies moving forward to new development, new purchases, and (admittedly gray area of) substantial modifications
    • IITAA Certification

  • Accessibility in the real world, experiences from building a more accessible Yahoo! Network
    2009 UIUC Web Accessibility Conference, accessibility, web development
    Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 08:58
    Keynote presentation entitled "Accessibility in the real world, experiences from building a more accessible Yahoo! Network" given by Victor Tsaran, Senior Accessibility Program Manager at Yahoo!  Approximately 117 people registered, most if not all of whom attended this keynote.
    • Accessibility is not just about making things work for people with disabilities.
    • Yahoo! new hire orientation leaders didn't see how the accessibility group would fit into their orientation.  Passed the test and now accessibility is presented to new hires from day one.
    • Common myths:
      • Myth #1: We should calculate the ROI of making our site accessible before we decide to
      • Myth #2: Solving accessibility challenges is all difficult work.
      • Myth #3: Accessibility is going to mess-up my beautiful website.
      • Myth #4: I have to comply with every single guideline.  Doesn't really matter if you adhere to all of the guidelines as long as users are happy.  It really comes down to people
    • Only way to test the accessibility of a page is to involve real users.
    • Advise: find the part of the development process that brings you joy and happiness and focus on that, not on doing accessibility because of the guidelines.
    • Demonstration
      • Intending to show:
        • Complicated interactions can be made accessible
        • Even Web 2.0 interactions can be made accessible
        • How do we educate users to let them know how to use the accessibility features we build
      • Using NVDA - free, open source screen reader for Windows.  Most strict, least forgiving interpreter.
      • Demonstrated this search
      • Features
        • Notified user of search suggestions on each key press "Search suggestions are available.  Use up and down arrows to navigate."
        • Notifies user of which panel they are in, "Search suggestions. Use the escape key to return to the search box.  Use the right arrow to explore related concepts." and "Use control shift down arrow to jump to the search results listing."
        • Uses ARIA technology.
        • Sighted users can use screen tips to preview content, but for screen reader users, they had to introduce a preview link.
        • Moves focus to top of module each time a new module is opened (often forgotten step).  Then move focus back to navigation when closing module.
    • Questions & Answers
      • Yahoo! does not provide preferences to minimize verbosity for advanced users.
      • Yahoo! homepage uses YUI 3 library.  Documentation:
      • Shortcut key information conveyed to both sighted and screen reader users via help documentation.
      • Yahoo! Pipes is not accessible at the moment.  It is in "maintenance mode" and isn't being actively developed to add accessibility to it.
      • Currently, ads are not typically accessible because ad providers are often unable to provide the metadata necessary.
      • Tips to developers: watch videos of how screen reader users browse the web, try using NVDA, and just talk with someone who uses a screen reader.

  • Course Shells Aren't Just For Courses! Other Uses in Desire2Learn
    Fusion09
    Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - 10:48
    Fusion 2009 presentation entitled Course Shells Aren't Just For Courses! Other Uses in Desire2Learn by Meagan Taylor-Booth, Cathy Cheely, and Dana Anderson.  About 30 people in attendance.
    • "Mission Control"
      • Using D2L to communicate to instructors and instructors with each other.
      • Repositry for instructional, curricular, and technology documents.
      • "Faculty lounge"
      • "Tricks of the trade" - required daily
      • Sharing area
    • Content Developer Training Courses
      • Translation of F2F day-long training
      • Repository of documents
      • Place for interaction between IDs and content developers
    • Admin Team Forum
      • 6 admins spread throughout VA
      • Document repository
    • Student orientation and advising
    • Cyber Cafe for students
    • Online alumni mentoring program
    • Virtual student union
    • Conferences (more than just Fusion09 was cited as an example)
    • Honor society chapters
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